I’ve been thinking as of late…not always a good thing…lol. When I think too much I tend to second guess myself. Oh I wrestle it to the ground and shove doubt back into the hole it crawled out from, but still, it peeks its disturbing head out at me and says, do you even know what you’re doing?

LOL Of course I don’t, but I do try to learn. Take FaceBook…

This was sent to me through one of the writer’s groups:

FB has changed & failed to let us know about it! Take a look at your URL address (the top box on your screen.) If you see “http” instead of  “https” you DO NOT have a secure session & can be HACKED.’ ‘Go to Account – Account Settings – Account Security – click Change. Check box (secure browsing), click Save. FB has automatically set it on the non-secure setting! Do your friends a huge favor, copy & re-post.

Several replies went back and forth. This was a bit of mine:

FaceBook has me completely locked out. Nine emails so far. Nine! They tell me I have to send government ID of the person whose name appears on the account. I say I use a pen name and nothing I have, from library card and passport, to FOID and drivers license, is going to help determine who I am. They say no one is allowed a fictitious name. I say I’m an author using a pen name. They send me a form that asks for government ID again. I say I have a pen name and signed up with a pen name. They’ve sent me that form 5 times. It has to be the most frustrating thing I’ve ever dealt with online. It’s always the same person too. Half way through this farcical discussion, I asked him if he was a bot or a real person. He said it’s against their policy to create false ID accounts. I asked what about the hundreds of authors on there who use pen names??? He sent me the damn form again! I also asked that he forward my request to someone higher up in FB. A week has gone by and nothing so far.

This is just a heads up to other authors that use a nom de plume. If you get locked out, as it stands — that’s it. Until they figure something else out FB won’t be an option for networking for the author that happens to. For me it took at least a dozen requests for help and three phone calls to a number I had to scour the internet for. Even then it was a leave a message line. This has been going on since April and I’m very close to writing it off entirely. Their “help” stinks, not only that, it’s next to impossible to get.

So the discussion that went back and forth this past weekend gave me a lot to think about and some of it was worrisome. Someone asked a general question: Was there was a way to sign in with your real name, then change it once you got on? I replied:

I asked exactly that in one of my emails. I even asked them to just delete the account so I could start over. I was told  they have “very clear” rules about false names and only the person who the account belonged to had the right to cancel it. (Arrgghh)  The last bit of nonsense nine emails later said they did indeed cancel Rose Anderson’s account. I thought, great now I can start over. Now, I have no idea what “canceled your account” means to them, or what other poor unsuspecting Rose Andersons (all the non-authors) thought when they suddenly found their many accounts gone, but I know what canceled your account means to me. I tried to create another account with my pen name, what I got was Please Submit Government ID. AGAIN!
I wanted to scream. It reminds me of the woodchuck I had hiding next to the engine block under the hood of my car. (yes I did say woodchuck) His head was covered so he couldn’t see me and felt safe because from his vantage point he was hidden. Perhaps they think if they say it’s deleted, then it is, regardless if they actually physically deleted it or not. BS comes to mind, I don’t think they know what they’re doing, or if someone at the top does, he certainly hasn’t let his bots know.

The conversation went ‘round again as often occurs on the groups when intelligent people have something to ponder or a bone to pick. Another person said an author could create their real page then attach a nom de plume page to it. Personally, I think that would defeat the purpose of the pen name. Then this opinion was offered:

They want your info for two reasons, one to sell to whomever they want, anytime they want.

That’s true. It was all over the news a while back. Everything on FaceBook, from your casual comments to your family photos belongs to FaceBook. If they wanted to put your family picnic photos into their advertisement they could, if they wanted to show a prospective employer what a stupid kid you were ten years ago by your immature postings, they could. God forbid if you planned on having political career. The fodder for the media would be insane. Then another author sent this. I had not thought of this before.  (I’m paraphrasing here):

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that one reason for a pen name when writing romance is to keep yourself from being stalked. This is a problem, and has been for romance authors since the eighties. That’s why, a long time ago, the RWA told authors to have a pen name and a separate mailbox, and never give a real home address. On FB, everyone and anyone can know who you are, where you are and how to access you. Think about it, please.

I did and I made a decision – FaceBook’s lack of customer service aside, I’m thinking this episode  gave me grief for a reason. I’m just not supposed to be on there. Their invasive stealing of personal info, unrealistic proprietary user agreement, their potential for some nutjob to fixate on Rose Anderson through my writing and come find me (Steven King’s novel Misery comes to mind). No, FaceBook can continue on without Rose Anderson’s author’s page. I will not be using the site for all of the above reasons and don’t plan on returning to my other FB page. I never do anything there but lurk anyway.

In the course of the author replies to the topic, it was also suggested FaceBook was actually an extension of the government masquerading as private enterprise. Is it? I have no idea, but curious I went looking for who owns it. http://whoownsfacebook.com/  I still have no idea! I’m reminded of a line from Seinfeld where Newman the postal worker laughs maniacally and says, “When you control the mail, you control information!”  What does  controlling social networking gain? Too much to think about. Whinnie the Pooh and Scarlet O’Hara would both say think about it another day.  Nah. Suffice to say, I’m done with it.

***

On to fun news…

The Summer Love In is gearing up. A media blitz of sorts, a handful of authors, including myself, have pooled resources and are creating a temporary yahoo group. Here’s what the soon to be opened main page says:

Welcome to the
Sizzling SUMMER LOVE-IN 2011!
The sun’s not the only HOT thing this summer!

Coming
Thursday, July 14, 2011!
Mark Your Calendars!

We have STEAMY authors, SIZZLING stories
to sweep you up into a passionate summer affair!

Enter contests to win for
FREE e-books!

Mainstream and Erotic Romances!
Historicals, Contemporaries,
Futuristics, and Paranormals!

We’ve got the HEAT you seek!
Fall in love with our FRESH and FIERY heroes!
They await you with each turn of the page.

Chat with your favorite authors:
Lisa Alexander-Griffin, Rose Anderson, E. Ayers,
J. D. Faver, Michele Hart, Tara Manderino,
Missy Martine, Nancy O’Berry, Jane Leopold Quinn

This event starts at NOON Eastern US Time
and ends when we pass out!

Don’t miss the HEAT!

I LOVE this! I have no idea exactly how it’s supposed to work just yet (I am the newbie here) but look how fun that is!

I’ll be sure to post when we’re ready. Well off to do some serious writing today. I have a thought simmering in the back of my mind.